Breadcrumb
Meet our current musicology PhD students!
Brian Casey
Historical Musicology
Brian.casey@colorado.edu
Brian Casey is a jazz bassist, educator and researcher based in Colorado. Casey serves as associate professor of academic jazz at the University of Northern Colorado and earned a DMA in jazz studies from the 精品SM在线影片 where he taught courses in humanities, jazz studies and American music.听Prior to moving to Colorado, Casey earned a MM in nazz studies from the University of North Texas where he played with the Grammy-nominated One O鈥機lock Lab Band and served as a teaching fellow in jazz bass under the direction of Professor of Bass Lynn Seaton. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Casey has performed 补苍诲听recorded with Eric Skye, Pink Martini, Weber Iago, Henry Butler, Anson Wright, Robert Johnson, Lillian Boutt茅 and many others.听Casey has presented original research in jazz-related fields at many national and international conferences including those of the College Music Society, the Jazz Education Network and the International Society of Bassists. He has recently published the entry for Miles Davis in the听鈥淥xford Online Bibliographies in Music,鈥 and a chapter on post war traditions Jerry Tolson鈥檚 textbook听鈥淎frican American Music: History and Heritage鈥澨齪ublished by Great River Learning. Casey鈥檚 research interests also include the intersection of jazz and American literature, politics, society听and the role of jazz in the civil rights struggle in America, as well as jazz as a cultural phenomenon in New Orleans.听
Amir Davarzani
Ethnomusicology
Amir.davarzani@colorado.edu
Amir Davarzani, born and raised in Sabzevar, Iran, embarked on his musical journey at age 13, immersing himself in classical and flamenco guitar, later transitioning to the electric guitar.听
Davarzani earned bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in educational management, with his master鈥檚 thesis interweaving pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with music. In 2020, he authored a book blending thrash metal guitar techniques with innovative pedagogical approaches.
Davarzani鈥檚听primary passion revolves around heavy metal music and its subgenres, encompassing thrash, death, nu and hardcore, alongside exploring their historical and societal implications. In 2023, Davarzani was invited to speak at Loyola University in New Orleans, where he discussed Slipknot鈥檚 music. Recently, he talked about the birth of heavy metal at the American Musicological Society conference.
Beyond music, Davarzani听indulges in movies and explores various topics on the internet.
Jameson Foster
Ethnomusicology
Jameson.Foster@colorado.edu
Jameson Foster is a second-year ethnomusicology PhD student at 精品SM在线影片. He earned his BA in music from Keene State College in New Hampshire and his MM in musicology from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore where he wrote his thesis听I Folkton: Edvard Grieg鈥檚 Development as a Norwegianist Composer and His Influence in Belle 脡poque Paris. In the years between his degrees, he worked as a butcher at the local food co-op and as a farm educator at Stonewall Farm in Keene, NH. He is currently teaching the recitation sections for the Nordic Studies department鈥檚 classes on the Vikings and Norse Mythology.
Foster鈥檚听research interests as an ethnomusicologist lie in the relationship between music and politics throughout modern Norwegian history, as well as the dynamics of race and identity in Appalachian roots music. As a double bassist, he is experienced in jazz combo, Bluegrass and String Band settings, and is currently learning the ropes of Irish music performance on the mandolin. As a guitarist, he is well-versed in the Piedmont/Country Blues fingerstyle tradition of the Appalachians. When not playing music, you can find him fishing, hiking or birdwatching with his wife Alyssa.
Ubochi Igbokwe鈥
Ethnomusicology
Ubochi.Igbokwe@colorado.edu
Ubochi Igbokwe is a teaching assistant and third-year PhD ethnomusicology听student听at the 精品SM在线影片. She holds a master鈥檚 and Bachelor of Arts in vocal music performance from the University of Uyo, Nigeria. In her research, she is fascinated with indigeneity, performance imagery, number symbolism听and spirituality in musical arts, and performance of Western, African folk and art music repertory. As a student of African music, she has studied and researched different areas of African musical arts, resulting in sole authorship and co-authorship of articles in various academic journals. This process was partly furnished by her designing and teaching religion and history in high schools and active participant observation of and in many cultural and musical events.听
At the 精品SM在线影片, the multidisciplinary approach to musicological studies shaped Igbokwe鈥檚 thought in writing a proposal for a project titled 鈥溍択霉k霉 Nw脿amad墨虪: Ritual Symbolism and Musical Arts Among the People of Ndoki,鈥 which was accepted by the Program Committee of the 46th International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) World Conference. Parts of the research paper were presented at the New University of Lisbon (NOVA鈥揊CSH), Lisbon, Portugal, in July 2022听and at the African Studies Association Music Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November 2022. While her interest in performance imagery remains, her passion for exploring new frontiers inspired听her in the summer of 2023 to embark on a pre-dissertation trip to Japan, where she discovered emergent cultural hybridity in African and Japanese fashion, food听and popular music.听
Igbokwe鈥檚 article titled 鈥淭he Significance of听I虁ri虁ra虂a虂bu虂听Musical Satire in the听脡kp猫听Dance Festival Amongst the Obohia-Ndoki People of Nigeria鈥 was published in the 2018 edition of the听鈥淵earbook for Traditional Music.鈥 She听co-authored three articles published in the 2017, 2018听and 2019 editions of the Journal of Nigerian Music Education (JONMED), and the Journal of Association of Nigerian Musicologists (JANIM).听JONMED鈥檚听article鈥淣igerian Music Education: Emerging Issues in Career Placement鈥澨齠ocuses on how functional musicianship and versatility are endearing features for potential hires. And those in听JANIM听鈥溍宼煤 艑t铆t铆: Music and Gender in the Second Funeral Rites in Ndoki,鈥 examines the听脤t煤 艒t铆t铆听as a ritual performance that secures for a deceased mother/woman a triumphant entrance into ancestral realm; 鈥淢usic and Mathematics: Number Allegory in Ndoki Musical Arts鈥 examines the worldview of the Ndoki people based on the certainty and spiritual importance of numbers in their musical arts.
Isaac Johnson
Historical Musicology
kajo4320@colorado.edu
Karl Isaac Johnson has a particular interest in the history of Gregorian Chant in North America, spanning from colonial-mission encounters to the present day. His academic work, which includes publications in听Culture and Religion,听Glossolalia,听Antiphon,听Journal of the Southwest,听Sacred Music, 补苍诲听脡tudes Gr茅goriennes,听and presentations at meetings of the International Congress on Medieval Studies, American Musicological Society (twice), American Academy of Religion (twice), Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, and Society for Catholic Liturgy, has spanned research on Hispano and Native American Catholic devotionalism in New Mexico and Arizona, Mohawk First Nation Catholicism historically and in the modern day, French Romantic and Contemporary organ music, the Old Hispanic Rite especially in comparison with the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, ethnographic studies of modern-day Catholic liturgy and music in the U.S., and the origins of heavy metal. He also hopes to study the music of the Penitente societies of New Mexico and to explore the social politics of American country, bluegrass, and "old time" music. He hopes to write a dissertation on the creation and use of post-medieval chant expressions in early modern North America, particularly in French-Canadian and Jesuit Mission contexts.
Isaac has enjoyed a successful career as a church music director, organist, choral conductor, tenor, and composer, and has performed organ recitals in cathedrals, churches, and conferences across the United States and in Canada. He lives in Longmont with his wife, three children听and cat, and serves as organist for St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Longmont, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Denver, and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Chapel in Boulder.
Laura Klein
Historical Musicology
Laura.Klein@colorado.edu
Laura Klein is a second-year PhD pre-candidate studying historical and performance practice musicology. Her research focuses on the music collection of Jane Austen and the impact music and playing had on her writing as a female author. Klein founded听The Jane Austen Playlist听in 2019, a research and performance program featuring music from Austen鈥檚 music manuscripts paired with dramatized narrations from her novels and writings. She is resident pianist for Jane Austen鈥檚 House in Chawton, Hampshire, UK, where she frequently performs in virtual and live events, most recently as a Reimagine Resident in the spring of 2023.
An active performer, educator听and researcher of music and performance practice, Klein earned her Master of Music in piano pedagogy and performance from Westminster Choir College with high honors and her Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Mars Hill University with a cumulative 4.0 GPA. She is an alumna of Brevard Music Center鈥檚 Summer Festival and the Juilliard School鈥檚 International Scholar Laureate Program. She has performed throughout the USA, Canada, Austria, the UK听and the Czech Republic. In addition to playing the 1813 Clementi and Co mahogany square piano at Jane Austen鈥檚 House, a few highlights include performing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the dramatic cast in her production of听The Jane Austen Playlist听at The Trust Performing Arts Center in Lancaster, PA. Her most recent performance was at Chawton House from a recently re-discovered manuscript belonging to Jane Austen. Upcoming performances and presentations include听Pride and Prejudice and the Piano听at the Jane Austen Society of North America AGM 补苍诲听The Jane Austen Playlist: Love and Music of Regency England听at Mars Hill University (Mars Hill, NC). She will be touring the UK in the summer of 2024, presenting and performing on historic instruments at National听Trust and English Heritage sites. Former faculty at Westminster Choir College, the American Boychoir School听and Walla Walla University, she currently serves on faculty at Colorado Christian University.听
When she is not teaching, playing her gorgeous 1908 rosewood Steinway grand or reading Jane Austen (again), Klein spends her free time hiking, traveling, and DIY-ing her fixer-upper house in Park Hill with her husband, Matthew, and their daughter, Alyssa.听
Johnette Martin
Ethnomusicology
Johnette.Martin@colorado.edu
釒︶幍釒♂幍 釓メ彆釒踞幐, O Johnette Makamaeakahaio鈥檏aho鈥檕ponoponookapunahelekupuo鈥檏aaina Martin ko'u inoa. No Makawao ko驶u ahupua驶a a o H膩m膩kuapoko, Maui mai au. Noho wau i Kololako (Colorado). As an听釓a幊釒┨齛nd Kanaka Maoli, cis-gendered, heterosexual woman and musicologist, Johnette鈥檚 research interests range from film music to representation, misinformation, and identity in Indigenous music cultures, particularly of the Americas and Polynesia. Born and raised in Hawai鈥檌 Nei, she grew up immersed in traditional Native Hawaiian practices, once denied to her ancestors, including mea鈥檃i, aloha 鈥樐乮na, spirituality, and mele (mele hula and mele oli). Being a musicologist is a passion that intensifies with her accomplishments in the scholarship and with the guidance of her fellow scholars and professors: past, present, and future. She started her collegiate music education with the goal of returning to her community to give back in the form of teaching academic art music. To this day, Johnette still aspires to contribute to her community as her kuleana or responsibility through teaching music and culture, but now including her Native Hawaiian and Cherokee cultures into the conversation of American Musicology. Her goals of inclusivity stretch from ethnic identity to gender, sexuality, and spiritual identity, i.e., the 2-spirited individual, pre-, and post-colonization. Johnette鈥檚 work also includes South Korean film music and pansori (South Korean folk music) as well as Mariachi vocals and pedagogy.听
As an undergraduate and a graduate master鈥檚 student, Johnette attended the University of Hawai鈥檌 at M膩noa, successfully accumulating a BA in Music Education: Secondary Instrumental and an MA in Musicology, respectively, while volunteering for N膩 Pua No鈥檈au and Kamehameha Schools to aid in the cultural education of Native Hawaiian children. In her master鈥檚 program, she completed and defended her thesis with respect to feminism and film musicology, 鈥淢usical Aesthetics in Alex North鈥檚 Score for The Bad Seed.鈥 Johnette has most recently worked as a teacher of Native Hawaiian culture at Mid-Pacific Institute, a private college prepatory K-12 school in M膩noa, Hawai鈥檌. Johnette is currently in the Ph.D. Musicology program at the University of Colorado 鈥 Boulder and works in the Norlin Library / American Music Research Center music archives.听釓欋彄釓撫帾釒册帰. No ka l膩hui.
Jessica Quah
Historical Musicology
Jessica.Quah@colorado.edu
Jessica Quah is a doctoral student in the musicology department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she has also instructed and assisted in a variety of music courses. She earned a MM degree in musicology from Rice University and has held teaching positions across the school and collegiate levels in Texas. Her master's thesis situated the Yellow River and Butterfly Lovers concerti within their respective historical and political contexts, with especial focus on the manifestation of musical hybridity through instrumentation and texture. Quah's research interests include both art and popular musics, and tend to involve intersections, particularly those of culture and literature; music and language; style, form, and dramaturgy. She has recently presented on the presence of tonal contour in Mandarin rap, as well as on the significance of texture and timbre in Chinese metal music. Her current work concerns adaptations of Chinese historical and mythological narratives for the Euro-American operatic stage.
Brandon Stover
Ethnomusicology
Brandon.Stover@colorado.edu
Brandon Stover is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology. He is currently working on his dissertation titled Transmitting听Neiro: Teaching Timbre and Tradition in Online Shakuhachi Lessons听which looks into the transmission of the Japanese shakuhachi online and how such online interactions alter the pedagogy of the tradition. As a shakuhachi performer, he earned his first shihan听menj艒听or teaching license to teach the Seien-ryu school of shakuhachi from his teacher in 2022. He has presented research at the Society for Ethnomusicology annual meeting, the Southwest Chapter of the Society of Ethnomusicology, the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, and Borders/Boundaries/Fronteras: Rethinking American Music, a symposium hosted by Americas: A Hemispheric Music Journal.
Stover has published in the Journal of Music, Health, and Wellbeing, Americas: A Hemispheric Music Journal, the Hakodate Shinbun, and has a forthcoming article in the collection Stories from the Field. He has served as the Vice President of the Graduate Musicology Society where he was in charge of the bi-yearly newsletter.
He holds a BM in music education from Millikin University and an MA in ethnomusicology from Goldsmiths, University of London. Before coming to Colorado, he was a middle school music (band/choir) and social science teacher for nine years in Illinois. In his free time, Stover enjoys playing board games and traveling with his wife, Emily, and their baby boy.
Brandon Swing
Historical Musicology
Brandon.Swing@colorado.edu
Brandon Swing is a PhD pre-candidate in ethnomusicology. He holds a BM in piano performance from Union University and a MM in piano performance and piano pedagogy from the University of Memphis. Swing鈥檚 interests concern video games as social media in childhood and adolescence, and video games as nostalgia later in adult life.
Jason Thompson
Historical Musicology
Jath6814@colorado.edu
Jason is a second-year PhD student in historical musicology. He received a BM in music history from the University of the Pacific and an MM in music from University of Northern Colorado.听
Thompson鈥檚 research interests include early music, music in early modern France, and gender and sexuality in music. While studying at University of the Pacific, Thompson听worked on a reconstruction of some music in the听Ballet Royale de la Nuit听(1653) and wrote his capstone paper on Jean-Baptiste Lully鈥檚 setting of the Dies Irae sequence. His master鈥檚 thesis, 鈥淨ueerness in French Baroque Opera: The Relationship Between Achilles and Patroclus in Lully鈥檚听Achille et听Polyx猫ne,鈥 looks at the portrayal of the听relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in Lully鈥檚 trag茅die-lyrique听Achille et Polyx猫ne听(1687). He presented his research on听Achille et Polyx猫ne听at the Rocky Mountain Music Scholar鈥檚 Conference in 2022.听
In his free time, Thompson听enjoys practicing harpsichord, designing and sewing clothes (historic and modern), going to museums and concerts 补苍诲听traveling with his partner, Jacob.听
Lydia Wagenknecht
Ethnomusicology
Lydia.Wagenknecht@colorado.edu
Lydia Wagenknecht (she/her) is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at the 精品SM在线影片. A Fulbright Student and Fulbright-Hays fellow, her dissertation titled 鈥Conciencias Ant谩rticas: Music, Climate Change, and Polar Identities in Punta Arenas鈥 examines intersections between climate change and music making in southern Chilean Patagonia. Her broader research interests include voice studies, ecofeminism, decolonial theory, activism, and public musicology
A Research Assistant at the American Music Research Center, Wagenknecht works on the NEH-funded 鈥淪oundscapes of the People鈥 project in Pueblo, Colorado. She has also served as an Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholar, College of Music Lead Graduate Instructor, GPSG Music Senator, and president of the Graduate Musicology Society at 精品SM在线影片. Currently, she works as the Student Relations Officer for the journal听Rising Voices in Ethnomusicology. She received the Joann W. Kealiinohomoku Award for Excellence from the Southwest Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 2020.听
Wagenknecht holds a B.A. in Wide-Range Music Education (Choral/General Music) from Wisconsin Lutheran College. She has taught music students from early childhood through adults. In her free time, Wagenknecht serves as a church musician, trains for ultramarathons, and enjoys spending time with her husband (Austin) and dog (Panqueque).
Charles Wofford
Historical Musicology
Charles.Wofford@colorado.edu
Charles Wofford is a Ph.D. student in historical musicology and critical theory. He received his B.A. in Music from Northern Arizona University in 2012, where he studied classical guitar under Tom Sheeley, a student of Manuel Lopez Ramos and Patrick Read. Charles鈥 research interests include musical improvisation, music as a utopian practice, the history of radical thought, the Enlightenment, and the ideologies around 鈥渃lassic rock.鈥 His dissertation examines discourses of improvisation in the Led Zeppelin fan base. Charles has presented on Led Zeppelin, improvisation, and listening at both regional and national conferences of the American Musicological Society. He also maintains an active practice in both electric and classical guitar.
In Fall 2022, Charles was elected president of the Graduate Musicology Society (GMS), a recognized student organization that promotes performances of and scholarship around music. As president, Charles works to fund graduate music scholars' conference expenses. He is also working to reform the bylaws, and has formalized record keeping practices.
Charles has also advocated for student interests in an activist capacity: in 2017 he rallied resistance to an 鈥淎lt-Right鈥 presence on campus, and in 2022 publicly advocated for expanded library hours. In recognition of these efforts he was granted the Scholarship and Collegiality Excellence Award by the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) in Spring 2023.
In his free time Charles enjoys reading, attending concerts, and rotting his brain on YouTube. His favorite author is Victor Serge and his favorite musician is Eric Clapton.
Read more about the recent activities of our graduate students in our newsletter!